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Brampton city staff poured work time into Mayor Susan Fennell’s private events

Documents obtained by the Star show, contrary to Fennell’s assertions, that weekday staff time and city resources have been used to organize her annual gala, golf tournament and “spirit team.”

Susan Fennell, third from left, poses with former premier and Brampton resident Bill Davis, his wife, Kathleen, and Fennell's husband, John, at the very first Mayor's Gala in 2005. Emails obtained by the Star from 2004 on reveal the extent to which city staff and resources were involved in planning the annual event, a private fundraiser that has no part in city business. (Bryon Johnson)

City of Brampton staff have regularly worked on Mayor Susan Fennell’s private events — using city resources, during business hours — since 2004, according to documents obtained by the Star.

The documents are email exchanges that show Fennell and mayor’s office staff, as well as one city employee outside her office, used city email accounts to solicit ticket, table and sponsorship sales for the mayor’s annual gala and her golf tournament. Fennell and her staff also used city resources for her private booster group, Mayor Susan Fennell’s Community Spirit Team, the documents show. All three events are private initiatives and are not part of the business of the City of Brampton.

Most of the emails were sent between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays. They show that city computers, fax lines, phone lines and offices would have been used by staff while working on the mayor’s private events. It’s unclear how much staff time was involved.

This year, the rules involving use of staff to organize non-city events were changed to stop the practice, according to John Corbett, Brampton’s chief administrative officer.

Fennell has publicly said several times during council meetings that no city resources were used for these events. Fennell also told the Star in 2010 that no city resources were used for her private initiatives.

The documents obtained by the Star, however, show that as recently as last year and as far back as 2004, city resources were used.

The documents demonstrate that staff work goes back to 2004, the year before Fennell held her first annual private gala. An email Fennell sent that year from her city account shows how Ian Newman, her chief of staff, would help solicit money for the gala. The email was sent to Newman and Michael Halls, her executive assistant.

In an email sent months before the first gala was held, dated Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2004, at 4:04 p.m., Fennell outlines how major sponsorships are to be brought in under the names of some of the biggest developers in the GTA, while lesser amounts will be brought in from individuals and smaller companies.

“I have spoken with over a dozen people..and they are going to be SPONSORS and GALA GOVERNORS...These ‘askes’(sic) have ALREADY taken place. I have a few outstanding…” she writes. Fennell goes on to say about “Letter Number One” that 20 copies will be hand-delivered to a particular prominent developer, who will then “send out to his contacts.” The procedure was then to be repeated with specific letters from other major developers, which she names. “People selling tables are called GALA GOVERNORS,” she writes.

“Letter Number Two: These letters are from the MAYOR..and will be sent out to Individual Companies, and Contacts..that will want a Table or a few Tickets. This list is being prepared by Ian Newman..and we will coordinate this list from the Office of the Mayor.”

Fennell, Newman and Halls twice did not respond to the Star’s questions.

Documents gleaned from throughout the next few years under a freedom of information request include dozens of emails sent from the mayor’s office, from Fennell, Sandra Carpino, who handles the mayor’s scheduling, and Mara Ciccotelli, a city employee who works for the economic development department. They emailed large developers, smaller businesses, individuals and senior Brampton staff members, soliciting ticket sales and sponsorships for the annual gala and the annual golf tournament.

One email chain from 2009, with the subject line “Mayor’s Gala,” illustrates how Fennell and Carpino handled solicitations. In a Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009, email sent at 9:29 a.m. (two weeks before that year’s gala) Fennell cc’s Carpino when asking a local bank executive to confirm a table purchase, writing: “We have not heard, but I have reserved a Scotiabank table.”

Carpino later emails to the same person, “Please advise if you require the 1 table we have put on HOLD for you as soon as possible,” giving her contact information in the “Office of the Mayor” with her city phone, fax and email address.

Carpino did not respond to the Star’s questions.

The documents show that Ciccotelli sent dozens of emails to staff each year since 2008 on behalf of Fennell’s events, soliciting sales, organizing tables for the gala and foursomes for the golf tournament. The city, the Region of Peel and the Peel Police Services Board, for which Fennell is the vice-chair, spent more than $64,000 of taxpayer money on tickets to Fennell’s gala and golf tournament in 2012 alone.

Questions about Ciccotelli’s involvement were routed by Brampton communications staff to her boss, Dennis Cutajar, head of economic development, and Corbett.

In a joint statement issued through a spokesperson, Corbett and Cutajar said city staff used to be allowed to “administer” events under the city’s Lunch and Dinner Sponsorship Program. It is unclear what is meant by “administer” in this case, but the practice has been ended as of this year.

When asked who would need to authorize the use of city resources by the mayor’s staff, Corbett’s spokesperson said that decision rests with Fennell: “Staff in the mayor’s office report to the mayor.”

When asked about the appropriateness of using city resources for outside work, the spokesperson said that, “as the City of Brampton has retained a third-party forensic auditor and is currently engaged in the forensic audit process, it would be inappropriate to comment on issues related to the use of corporate resources.”

The audit of council expenses was initiated by councillors after recent revelations of lavish spending by Fennell and her staff.

The mayor’s gala and golf tournament raise money for local community groups, but neither is a registered charity. Fennell’s Community Spirit Team registers people who want information about a variety of events across the city, with members eligible for perks such as free event tickets.

The golf tournament has been organized annually for more than a decade with a current 10-year pledge, ending this year, to raise $1 million for the Brampton Civic Hospital.

A promotional brochure for Fennell’s 2009 gala states: “For more information, call the Gala hotline,” followed by a phone number in the mayor’s office that today is used by Fennell’s chief of communication.

Since 2005, Fennell’s gala has raised between $170,000 and $250,000 annually. Fennell resigned from the gala board in 2010, and in 2011 the gala, along with the golf tournament and community team, was incorporated under one name: Stepping Out For Brampton Inc.

But the documents show that the new name did not stop work from being done out of city hall.

In 2012, an email from Fennell to Cutajar and Jamie Lowery, the former head of community services, instructs them to “post important dates onto the Catch the Spirit website.” Fennell then forwards the email to Malcolm Scott Ching, a Brampton businessman who has been paid to put on her gala and golf tournament each year and whom Fennell has called the executive director of her Catch the Spirit group. The email to Ching states, “Just a little push!!!”

Corbett’s spokesperson said this work by senior city staff was appropriate because it was to get free advertising for city events.

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